Unmask and Vent

     I have tried not to weigh in publicly about wearing masks to protect from Covid because I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings and my opinion is only slightly better informed than the news nannies telling us to wear them. Fortunately, this blog has so few followers it is practically private, so I can unmask and vent here. When the Covid crisis began, non-certified masks were considered ineffective to stop the spread, but they wanted to save the good ones for front line professionals--as they should. Nothing in the intervening weeks has changed that opinion. In fact, scientific testing shows that the cloth masks are, at most, 30% effective against large particles and less than 1% against small particles. And even that is dependent on daily washing, how well they fit, and how carefully they are removed after wearing. If a mask is breathable enough not to feel like you are choking on your own exhaust, it is not protecting you.
     A Facebook friend who shared a funny post about Covid being intelligent enough to know which store aisles it could go down, got shamed for ignoring "science". The problem is, medical recommendations are not science. If they were, there would never be a need for a second opinion or for the recommendation reversals that have happened many times in my 63 years. Remember:  coconut oil, coffee, high doses of Vit E, hormone replacement therapy, infant sleeping positions. Medical recommendations are made and accepted, but it takes years for science to catch up. Ten years after doctors recommended high doses of vitamin E for seniors, science discovered that dosage was harmful. But since the science was less vocal than the medical recommendation, people are still taking it. For years my doctors were disappointed that I didn't drink coffee because they were blaming everything from headaches to hangnails on it at the time. Now they recommend two to three cups a day for optimal health. Which is good because I drink coffee now.
     Medical wisdom and science are socially distanced--they are nodding acquaintances, but are not hand in glove. Perhaps, after a few years, we will have data that shows cloth masks actually worked better than we thought, but I am relying on logic. The current sales pitch is to wear masks to protect other people from your germs, but stay home because masks don't protect you from other people's germs. Oookay! But even if the masks were 50% effective and 50% magic, it would not explain why some people wear them driving alone in their own car, or forgoing fresh air for recycling their own exhaust when they are outside 100 feet from the nearest human.
     I don't believe Covid is a hoax, because a hoax requires some measure of organization and Covid response has been a world wide knee jerk reaction. Obviously, it is a real disease and a small percentage of people die from it. On the other side of the mask mystery, I don't believe that our immune systems will forget what to do if we limit exposure for a few weeks. God designed us better than that. Many people are choosing to come out of the cloth closet now, and science will someday unmask the rest. There are better ways to show solidarity than suffocation. Thanks for letting me vent. It feels like a breath of fresh air.